A Creative Blog Written by a Neuroscientist

Me Made May ’17 Week 1 Round Up

This week has been about getting into the routine of taking photos each day and then not spending the rest of the day fussing over my photos and captions. Why I choose to participate is to push myself out of the lovely introvert hole I like to live in and is a great way to review and evaluate my very small wardrobe. Mission accomplished.

Day 1

Today I wore True Bias Hudson pants with Grainline Studio’s Linden sweatshirt. I think that this raglan sweatshirt pattern is probably my most versatile and most used pattern. I’ve used this pattern to make shirts for working out to lightweight and heavyweight sweatshirts to lounge around in. It is pretty easy to adjust the pattern to make a short-sleeved or long-sleeved shirt. Sometimes I sew it with the waistband and sometimes I’ll do a traditional hem. Options are endless and because it’s a raglan shirt, it’s super fast to sew together.

As far at the PJ pants go…I used True Bias Hudson pants and just went up 2-3 sizes. The pattern is intended for fabric with stretch and since flannel doesn’t stretch, you just have to compensate with more ease. Instead of doing an ankle band, just lengthen the pattern. I love that my PJs have roomy pockets, are super comfy, and are long enough. I sew because I’m tall!

Day 2

Today I wore self-drafted leggings with Grainline Studios Linden sweatshirt. Have you ever had a problem with your athletic tights sliding down while exercising? Silly question, I think everyone has had this issue. Want to know the reason your leggings don’t want to stay up? Sure you do. It has nothing to do with poor spandex recovery or needing a tighter waistband or whatever silly gimmick they say. The reason your tights / leggings fall down is that they are the wrong cut / fit and don’t match your body. Here’s the backstory behind my epiphany moment…

I had a 10+ year old pair of Lululemon Wunder Under leggings that finally bit the big bazooka. I decided to use those to draft myself a legging pattern because I thought they fit good. I drafted the pattern and sewed myself some leggings. The first time I worked out in my new tights and did a squat I became the poster child for plumber’s crack. Luckily I do most of my workouts in the privacy of my house. I tried making the waistband tighter but that only made the problem worse.

I tried a lot of patterns and finally realized what the problem was…I needed to do a pretty aggressive full butt adjustment (FBA) on my legging pattern. So think about it, if you are athletic or really active, chances are you have a muscular derrière and that is what is pulling your leggings down. If you give your derrière some room in your leggings (i.e., FBA) then when you exercise or move around, you have space / freedom. Tighter leggings are not better. It’ll make your fit issues worse. I suggest working on a self-drafted pair of leggings, because if you can get the fit to match your body, all your leggings issues will magically go away. Leggings can be pants!

Day 3

Today I wore a pair of RTW jeans because I’ve had them forever and I love them and they are bomb-proof. I’m also wearing my favorite shirt of all time, “The Perfect T-shirt” from Pamela’s Patterns. The reason I love my shirt pattern? Bust darts! But RTW t-shirts don’t come with darts you say…well that’s why my shirt is better!

Day 4

I have a decent number of things I need to sew this month. Got one of my projects completed this week – another New Look 6481 jacket in a stretch denim. Doing “Me Made May” this month has been a great motivation for me to get these type of projects done. I’ve blogged about this jacket (see here). I made my jacket with denim from Mood Fabrics. I’m also wearing another “The Perfect T-shirt” from Pamela’s Patterns and Simplicity 8056 Amazing Fit pants. I’ve blogged about these pants as well (see here). You can’t go wrong with the pant pattern and if you want the softest fabric ever, definitely check out Robert Kaufman Ventana twill. These pants get softer and softer each time I wear them.

Day 5

Today I wore self-drafted leggings in fabric I got this week from Nosh! So awesome. Even though the fabric is organic cotton knit with some spandex, it actually looks like twill. Nosh refers to this fabric as “denim” knit. I used the same legging pattern as my workout tights from day 2. Another great thing about getting a legging pattern that fits your body, you can wear whatever undies you want. I found this added benefit totally by accident when I made my leggings. I didn’t have to worry about trying to get rid of awkward panty lines (thongs and / or going commando is TOTALLY out of the question).

I wore my new tights with the ever so lovely Chalk & Notch Waterfall raglan in (no surprise) Art Gallery knit fabric. I’ve gushed about my love for this pattern on the blog (see here). Hopefully, I will have time this month to make myself another one of these shirts. So lovely!

Day 6

Weekends are for getting outdoors. I wanted to feature something from my wardrobe that I often wear, but is never seen. Today (like most weekends) I wore my Jalie 2563 sports bra (blogged here). I can say after nearly a year of wear, these sports bras are awesome. I have worn mine under a 40-pound backpack for days; gone fly fishing, hiking, snow-shoeing, and cross-country skiing; did vigorous exercise (i.e., I do Daily Burn 365 most mornings) and yoga. Sweat, rubbing under a pack, boiling hot to subzero cold, the sports bra is still alive. I’m not joking, I’m really brutal on my workout gear. But I only have 3 sports bras total. Not sure why I’ve been avoiding making myself more, silliness really. It is definitely on my to-do list though.

Day 7

What happens when you start doing serious total body workouts? You bulk up and no longer fit into any of your clothes and then your wife cough has to go on a sewing frenzy. I ordered a bunch of fabric from Nosh Organics a few weeks ago and the fabric came into the mail this week. Since Ryan has zero t-shirts that fit, here’s shirt numero uno in his wardrobe. I’m like a t-shirt sewing kung-fu master. I have no problem sewing a neat shirt, perfect neckband, elegant hems that _never _roll, shoulder seams that never distend…I can whip a shirt out in less than a hour, so it really isn’t _that _big of deal sewing a couple of shirts. We are both lacking in t-shirts. I have only 3 short-sleeved and 2 long-sleeved and Ryan only has this…one…

I’ve recently blogged about the shorts (see here). Luckily I was able to make him a whole bunch of shorts really quickly and the more he wears these shorts the more I just love them. Can you believe that they come with a faux fly and have an elastic waistband? Secret’s out!